Individuals often come to counseling for the following reasons:

• Depression and/or anxiety
• Are experiencing painful life changes and want direction
• Need effective coping mechanisms to deal with stress at home and work
• Feel trapped in a current relationship or job
• A desire to change patterns of old thoughts and behaviors that no longer work
• Want to work through past or current family-of-origin issues
• A desire to clarify confused or ambivalent feelings
• Are confused about feelings of tension and fear
• Are experiencing grief and sadness, hopelessness and despair
• Feel guilty about past or current behaviors

From the first session, we will work together to define your particular concerns and the desired outcomes you wish to meet. We will explore how early messages you came to believe as a child impacts your thoughts and choices now. Also we will identify how your life experiences influences your beliefs and decisions. Understanding these thoughts that keep you trapped in self-destructive patterns will also help you identify how they have affected your self-esteem. Through counseling you will build your own inner resources to address your specific goals and desired outcomes. This process will enable you to put emotions and experiences together into a new framework that gives you more constructive ways to deal with problems in the future.

From there we will map out a strategy that will include goals and a new set of skills to achieve a productive and satisfying life. I believe people ultimately want to feel good about themselves, so my job is to help you navigate the course you choose to take.